Google’s launching its biggest attack yet on the firearms and tactical industries

When I founded Law Enforcement Today, I did it during a time where freedom of speech still existed.

A time when the ability to market and advertise your company wasn’t infringed by bigger companies that control the media space and decide who does and doesn’t get a voice based on their own political perspectives.

Sadly, that time has come to an end. Which is why our family at Law Enforcement Today has no choice but to step forward to fill that void and begin advocating for people and companies that are being actively silenced.

We’ve received word from some of our partners in the firearms and tactical industry that Google is actively shutting down advertising accounts of companies in the firearms accessories and tactical space.

Let’s be clear – we’re not talking about companies selling guns.

One such company, for example, is Inforce. They make weapon mounted lights that are used by departments like the FBI, NYPD, LAPD, Boston PD, CBP and others. Widely recognized as being both an LE and a consumer brand that helps make people safer… they are now shut down by Google.

They are a company spending six figures on advertising their products to consumers on the search engine, and now they’ve been shut down.

Here’s the message they received:

“Google, despite our ads having run without issue, now insists that weapon-mounted lights do not fall into the “increasing safety” clause of their violent content policy, therefore they cannot approve our ads. This is regardless of the ad copy wording because the landing page contains policy-violating content (the weapon-mounted light products). Google is having to crack down on what qualifies as a ‘safety-enhancing’ accessory as a result of the backlash they have received following recent shootings in the US.”

Bing, another search engine, also shut down the ad account because the flashlights have “a line related to weapons.”

Please understand that we’re using Inforce as just one example of our many partners who have come to us about this attack in the recent weeks since the Dayton and San Antonio shootings.

Inforce, like many other partners of ours, moved to Google advertising after their ad account was shut down on Facebook and Instagram. Although the platforms explicitly allow for the “advertising of weapon-mounted lights”, they still shut down the ad accounts as they move to remove all firearms and tactical related advertising from their platforms.

Think about this for a minute. Where do you do your searching for products and brands? If you’re like most Americans, it’s Google, Facebook and Instagram.

When the three biggest platforms decide it’s time to attack the industry and the Second Amendment, it has the potential to be catastrophic. It’s, in effect, gun control through censorship. And it’s an attack that’s going to continue to spread.

We at Law Enforcement Today want to make our stance very clear.

We strongly and firmly stand behind the Second Amendment, companies that keep civilians and law enforcement officers safe through products and innovation, and the men and women who serve and protect our communities and our country.

We are launching a new series of options to help our partners and other patriotic businesses to be able to connect with consumers. While we can’t replace Google, Bing or Facebook – we sure can provide options to ensure that these companies and our brothers and sisters have a voice.

We welcome with open arms companies in the firearms and tactical industries and are proud to offer them options to get their products to market. We’re also proud to stand beside organizations like NSSF, which runs SHOT Show, along with the Anteris Alliance, to make sure that the companies they represent have a massive voice.

Now to the consumer side of things.

We started noticing the problems a couple of years ago. Social media was scaling back the reach of content that it didn’t believe people should see.

Not that there was anything offensive about it. We’re talking about pro-police videos, stories about patriotic Americans and more.

And from our perspective, that created a huge problem. We have some of the greatest warriors in the world. Yet their voices and their stories were being buried.

The mainstream media, on the rare occasion that it would tell some of these stories, would give you only a piece of them. They’d cram as much as they could into a 90 second segment, slap their bias on it and that was it.

We needed to fix it. And so we are.

Law Enforcement Today (LET) is proud to announce the beta launch of LET Unity – a new home focused on bridging the gap between civilians and civil servants. We’ve merged with The Whiskey Patriots to massively expand content, rolling out hundreds of videos to members.

Many of those in our focus groups dubbed it the “Netflix of the law enforcement community”. But the truth is, it’s so much more.

The first officer in the door at the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Emergency responders from the Parkland shooting.

The bomb squad that responded to the Aurora movie theater massacre.

Survivors of the Dallas five killings.

The first Marine Guard hostage in the Iran crisis.

The CIA agent who started a counter human trafficking company.

SWAT teams.

Sniper schools.

World War II veterans.

And so, so much more.

The membership is less than the cost of two coffees a month, and those who sign up for an annual membership will get some surprise bonuses in the mail. We decided to charge a nominal fee so we could take all of the proceeds and reinvest them into capturing more of these stories.

On top of that, we’re opening up the platform to some well-known podcasters who are going to be joining the team with some incredible content soon.

We have a problem in society. Censorship has created an existential threat to democracy. But even worse is the risk we run that some of these incredible stories of patriotism, hope, faith and our Sheepdogs would be lost.

We’ll soon be launching a series of content with Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) to share the stories of survivors. We will also be dropping a weekly law enforcement focused newscast that addresses some of the most important topics in the country… and helps bridge the gap between those who serve and those whom they serve.

On top of that, we’ll soon be rolling out a series of private discounts and special promotions to members only as a “thank you” for being a part of the family.

The beta platform is live and the apps for Apple, Android, Apple TV and Roku will be launching soon.

We hope you’ll join us in this journey, knowing that your membership is going to give a voice to those who have been silenced for so long.

About The Author

The staff of Law Enforcement Today is comprised of career cops. Cumulatively we possess nearly a century of experience in the business of police work. Our backgrounds derive from the East Coast, West Coast, South and Upper Midwest. We are the voice of law enforcement, connecting with our readers throughout the entire country and uniting the Blue Family. We have our finger on the pulse of American law enforcement and endlessly support our brothers and sisters who hold the Thin Blue Line.